Thread: 130km/h speed limits

Originally Posted by solmanic

I take offence at that. You have no right whatsoever to draw irrational conclusions as to my personal driving habits based on my hypothetical proposal. As others have said, 130km/h is currently 20km/h higher than the absolute maximum limit in all states except NT.

What "danger" are you thinking you need to outrun at 130km/h? I assume you are talking about needing to complete an overtaking manoeuvre if there is oncoming traffic. The idea would be that only suitable divided highways or dead straight outback roads would have a 130km/h limit anyway so there should be no reason to ever need more than 130km/h to overtake.

Keep it technical, not personal.

Originally Posted by solmanic

I don't believe Australia has ANY roads that would safely support 180km/h. Even the pavement on parts of the Sydney-Newcastle freeway will bounce you onto the median strip at 150. We just don't know what a decent road is here.

As far as car drivers sitting in the right hand lane posing a potential threat to out of control trucks coming down the hill into Woollongong, we need to adopt the German practice of moving left if a vehicle behind flashes their lights to let you know they're coming up faster behind. Australian drivers just get ****ed off and stay in the overtaking lane and often slow down as some sort of stupid payback.

Lets face it, we generally have crap roads with incompetent drivers so any solution is likely to have problems.

I don't know why you took it personally, it was a question, you had the option to say "no I'm not".

I don't know if you've ever driven a gutless car, but I assure you that it makes overtaking painful. A large proportion of drivers will drive at ~120km/h on our roads, and at those speeds, you need a good run up, or a lot of grunt to over take.

Limiting cars to 130 will make it almost too dangerous to overtake b-doubles or dog trailers on all but dual carriage ways. How do I know? Because I've watched idiots try and overtake our wheat truck, while approaching a blind corner.

That's the type of situation you need to be able to hit warp speed in if things start to go pear shaped. Machinery, including cars should have a built in factor of safety, that is the ability to be pushed harder in extreme circumstances.

It's sheer idiocy to run gear so close to its limit.

As to the mount Ousley thing, it's the cars trying to get back in, in front of the trucks to turn left that's the issue. The trucks all accelerate off the bottom of the hill and there's very often a whole line-up. It's a logistical nightmare.

As others have said, it's downright dangerous overtaking at such close speeds when there isn't a dedicated overtaking lane. And sometimes overtaking someone is the safest thing.

Will

Originally Posted by MR LR jnr.

I don't know why you took it personally, it was a question, you had the option to say "no I'm not".

I don't know if you've ever driven a gutless car, but I assure you that it makes overtaking painful. A large proportion of drivers will drive at ~120km/h on our roads, and at those speeds, you need a good run up, or a lot of grunt to over take.

Limiting cars to 130 will make it almost too dangerous to overtake b-doubles or dog trailers on all but dual carriage ways. How do I know? Because I've watched idiots try and overtake our wheat truck, while approaching a blind corner.

That's the type of situation you need to be able to hit warp speed in if things start to go pear shaped. Machinery, including cars should have a built in factor of safety, that is the ability to be pushed harder in extreme circumstances.

It's sheer idiocy to run gear so close to its limit.

As to the mount Ousley thing, it's the cars trying to get back in, in front of the trucks to turn left that's the issue. The trucks all accelerate off the bottom of the hill and there's very often a whole line-up. It's a logistical nightmare.

As others have said, it's downright dangerous overtaking at such close speeds when there isn't a dedicated overtaking lane. And sometimes overtaking someone is the safest thing.

Will

What a load of guff! The vehicle travelling at 120 is already breaking the speed limit, any attempt to overtake it is gross stupidity.
If you look back at your comments in ten years I think you'll be embarassed at your niavety.

Originally Posted by solmanic

In an ideal world, a person travelling behind someone doing 128km/h should not feel the need to overtake at all. You will gain only 59sec for every hour travelled at that speed.

Yeah. Right.
Don't do much travelling under the speed limit?
I knew a fellow some years ago who often said "no matter what speed I am going, there is always someone who wants to overtake me."
You know, he's right.

Originally Posted by frantic

Mick you need to re-do the maths
the smallest landie in length is the 90 at 4 m(evoque is 4.6), most cars are between 4.8-5m+ . So 3 car lengths=15m+ 5m car +15m again=35m at 2kph
that's 63 seconds and over 2.3 km's on the wrong side of the road now try and find a country road with a straight stretch over 3.5 k's long(you need vision of oncoming traffic so should really be 4.6k's long) with no traffic coming in the opposite direction.

And a Ford F650 is even longer.
People drive all sorts of cars. Not just Landrovers.

I think an F650 comes under LR or MR licence, Mick, ergo limited to 100kph.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I think an F650 comes under LR or MR licence, Mick, ergo limited to 100kph.

But, how long is it?
Seems some people don't like smart cars. They are comfortable, economic and safe.

Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

And a Ford F650 is even longer.
People drive all sorts of cars. Not just Landrovers.

Talk about the average car not niche models like the smart or trucks like the f650. And if you really want to get specific there are far more dc utes on country roads and they are around 5.2m or more.

2013 Ford F-650/F-750 Work Trucks | See the Medium-Duty Ford Commercial Work Truck | Ford.com
(Prices slightly higher in some countries)